The Purpose Of My Blog

      -To be honest, I started writing this blog
simply to obey God. I was not at all keen on it but I am afraid not to obey
God even if it means doing something that I don't really want to do. I have been
writing once a week for over a year now and, in addition to being a test for
my obedience, I am coming to understand that God has other purposes for
these blogs.

One, I would think, would be that they are a means for people to get to know
a bit about me, both before and after the stroke. Because of the difficulty
in communication, it is not easy for others to get to know me. And the blogs
fill in the gap. Admittedly, I have written things about myself that I
haven't wanted to as I felt that I would be exposing too much of myself. But I 
forced myself to do it anyway. If I feel that God wants me to say something,
I better say it-no matter how it makes me feel.

Hopefully, the blog helps people to understand a bit more about what my
day-to-day life is like. That it is not a whole lot of fun. In fact, every
single day is long, tedious, uncomfortable, frustrating,etc. Being a
Christian certainly is helping  me to endure but it does not take away the
the discomfort or all the other yucky stuff. The blogs , hopefully, also
shed a bit of
light on what life is like for seniors in a facility like this. It was an
eye-opener for me.

I like to think that these blogs are a source of encouragement to people.
Because everything I write is inspired by the Holy Spirit, any encouragement
that people might get from my blogs is really encouragement from the Holy
Spirit. The blogs encourage me too. To keep on keeping on, no matter how bad
it gets. You know what else is a big encouragement to me? Getting positive
feedback about my blogs.

I know God is using these blogs to speak to me personally. Many times, I
will write something and then think, "Oh, my goodness. That is an owie".
It is a good way for God to correct or encourage me. While I am sure God is
using the blogs to speak to and encourage other people, I know very well
that some of the content is aimed right back at me.

Maybe the most important aspect of these blogs are they are a way to tell
people about Jesus. I always wondered how I could tell people about Jesus
when I can't talk. At other times, I have wondered if I was using my not
speaking as an excuse not to tell others about Jesus. I really was
at a loss how it could be done when most people have no idea how to use my
speech board. Even the nurses, who are able to use the speech board, are not being
paid to take time to listen to me "preach". Writing about Jesus in my blog
is a lot easier way to tell people about Jesus and they can read it at their
own leisure. However, I do have to be careful to say what the Holy Spirit
wants said and not to start spouting off my own ideas.

Even though I initially started (reluctantly) writing these blogs to obey
God, now that I have been writing them for some time, I am starting to
understand that God does have a purpose for these blogs. And it is more than
just obedience on my part.